Growing pains the low cost carrier sector in Indonesia: Internal service quality using a critical incident technique

• We have explored psychology aspects for improving service.
• Management should access the quality of internal service periodically.
• Safety should become a priority for Indonesian low cost carriers.

This study explores managers’ perceptions of internal service quality (ISQ) for building a safety culture in Indonesian low-cost carriers (LCC), using the critical incident technique (CIT) approach to determine the domain constructs of ISQ. This study used departmental managers or district managers who were drawn at random from the directory of the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (IDGCA), and the researchers conducted critical-incident interviews with 23 of them. These respondents described a total of 163 useable incidents, giving accounts of positive and negative internal evaluations of service quality drawn from these incidents. Based on retrospective interviews and, after the incidents had been categorized, the study found that domain constructs of ISQ included human factors, process, punctuality, sales and marketing and safety. The managers’ first-hand experiences helped clarify the domain constructs of ISQ in the LCC setting. By using internal service evaluations, management can assess the quality of service periodically and of safety awareness. These efforts could not only improve the reliability and quality of a company’s services but also allow management to diagnose service errors through important components of service quality specifically defined for the airline business. The results of this study could be used to help improve current service quality internally. The ISQ results suggest practical actions for improvements that provide guidance to management, which can be achieved by the using the internal service evaluation technique to increase passengers’ confidence in local air operators. These actions include improvements in human factors, process, punctuality, sales and marketing, and safety.